


Ten Tips For More Successful Hypnosis

by AndreaLyn



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2017-12-29 22:06:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1010668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndreaLyn/pseuds/AndreaLyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To help the Senior Staff relax, Leo listens to Margaret's suggestion. Chaos inevitably ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten Tips For More Successful Hypnosis

“You’ve started though, haven’t you?”  
  
Leo’s night was not going well. Despite the fact that it was early Sunday morning, the hour just having passed two, things were anything but calm in the West Wing. He had four senior staffers in his office who were currently completely out of it thanks to a hypnotist who was leaving. He began to wonder why the hell he’d listened to Margaret’s suggestion for the first time that year. Her suggestions always wound up becoming a situation.   
  
“Yeah, I put ‘em under,” the hypnotist said in a rush, clinging to his bag and his pager. “They’ve got a word that’ll bring ‘em to the state I suggested.”  
  
“Which is?”  
  
“Uh, they’ll think it’s their best year of college,” he rambled, rushing around and collecting things. “I have to run, my wife is having a baby!”  
  
“My staff is in there thinking they’re in college!” Leo snapped. “And you’re leaving them that way?”  
  
“They’ll be fine! Just, you know…leave ‘em alone. So long as no one gives ‘em the cue, they ought to just, you know…stay in the fugue state. Listen, I’ll call when things settle down at the hospital and give you instructions so you can bring them out of it safely.”  
  
“I don’t just clap my hands?”  
  
“Not my way,” the hypnotist (his name was Frank, or something like that) said. “Listen, I’ll call within the hour, I promise. I just need to show my face at the hospital or my wife is liable to kill me…or do something worse.”  
  
Then he ran off, and Leo was left on his own for two minutes before an irate President came stalking down the hall, papers rolled up in his hand.  
  
“Leo!”  
  
“Yes sir?”  
  
“Leo, this is the last straw!” And now he was shouting at the top of his lungs at Margaret’s desk.   
  
“I’m sure, sir.”  
  
“I mean it, Leo!” the President raged, smacking the papers against his thigh. Leo closed his eyes and held out his palms. He was slightly worried about the staff. He made a mental note to check up on them in a few minutes. Nothing was supposed to happen at two A.M. on a Sunday, but you just never knew with this country.   
  
“Sir, shouldn’t you be at the Residence, and…you know, asleep?”  
  
“The Labor Board just called me, Leo. At two in the morning, they called me,” Jed Bartlet ranted, wide-eyed and very awake. “And they started accusing me of things that I most certainly did not do. Since when did we hire such  _childish_  and  _immature_  idiots to sit on a Board during my administration! Where is everyone? I want them on this!”  
  
“That’s not possible, sir,” Leo responded after a moment of hesitation.  
  
“Why not?” Jed snapped back.  
  
“Well, they’re currently under hypnosis, but why don’t we try to do something about this in the morning,” Leo offered his explanation, watching the anger on Jed’s face melt into something resembling interested amusement.   
  
“Leo, did you bring in a hypnotist?”  
  
“Yes, sir.”  
  
“Leo, did you bring a hypnotist into the West Wing and not invite me to the session?” He smacked Leo playfully with the rolled up newspaper.  
  
“Sir, with all due respect, we already have enough issues without a President clucking like a chicken for the Press Corps to write about,” Leo replied evenly, raising an eyebrow as the image flashed through his mind. He contained the wave of amusement that passed through him.  
  
Jed hesitated.  
  
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he admitted begrudgingly.   
  
“Don’t worry, sir, when he gets back, I’ll ask him to give you a private session,” Leo offered.  
  
“Gets back? You mean, they’re hypnotized, and the hypnotist  _left_?” Jed raised an eyebrow. Leo sighed and nodded, watching the grin spread over the President’s face. “Can I go in and play with ‘em?”  
  
“While I admit it’d be amusing, sir, I’m more afraid of exactly how they’ll behave and how that might affect them having their jobs in the morning,” Leo said.   
  
“Oh come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”  
  
“Somehow they’re not in fugue state anymore and they all think they’re in their best year at college,” Leo replied in a monotone, raising a single eyebrow. “To me, that would be pretty bad, sir.”  
  
“Spoilsport,” Jed teased, grinning now. “I’ll be in the Residence on the phone with someone from Labor, see what’s going on. If the Staff comes around, send them by, would you?”  
  
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Leo called after the President as he walked away, waving the papers above his head. Leo paused, turning towards the door and wondered if he should brave the storm and go in there. He prayed that nothing had snapped them out of it, and he wasn’t a praying man.   
  
He also knew how badly his luck tended to run, and the chances of it skewing good for once were not good.   
  
He sighed and braced himself.  
  
 _‘Once more into the storm,’_  he thought.   
  


* * *

  
  
_child…child…childish_  
  
Josh shook his head, dispelling the haze that was settling on his brain. The single word stopped echoing in his head and things seemed to settle down slightly.  
  
Josh blinked and frowned. Where the hell was he? The last thing he remembered, he'd been in the airport terminal waiting for Sam to show up off the plane and the Spring Break of All Hell Breaking Loose was supposed to start. It was his last year of law school and he was going to have a good time if he had to break every rule trying. Now he was in an office, and he really didn't remember getting in trouble with any of his Profs or the Dean.  
  
So, where the hell was he?  
  
He looked around, wary to not move just in case this was one fucked-up acid trip that he was on. Maybe it wasn't Friday. Maybe it was still Thursday night and he hadn't driven out to the airport. He looked to his left and found that he wasn't alone in this office of...whatever-the-hell-it's-for. So, he wasn't at the airport. He was in an office. He wasn't alone.  
  
Josh nodded. There was Bald Guy, Tall Chick With Great Legs...  
  
The door opened and Familiar Old Guy walked in.   
  
"So what exactly is happening at this exact moment?"  
  
That came from behind him, which meant there was someone else in the room. That put Josh's tally to five. Except...wait, he knew that voice. Josh stood and turned around to find Sam pacing at the back of the room. Kay, so...maybe he was on an acid trip and it was Friday night? That still didn't explain the office, but at least he wasn't alone anymore.  
  
"Sammy!" Josh announced with delight, bounding over and wrapping him in a tight hug. Sam beamed ecstatically, just as happy to see him. He clapped Sam's back heavily and didn't let up on his close embrace. He pressed his cheek to Sam's and leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Just wait. Everything's set up, man. It's all planned. You're never gonna forget this."  
  
"Oh, god help me."  
  
Josh turned, one arm still wrapped around Sam's waist. Sam draped an arm around Josh's shoulders and looked around with confusion. Familiar Old Guy had talked, and was sounding very frustrated.  
  
"What is going on here?" Bald Guy raised an eyebrow and asked levelly. He was fidgeting though and looked...well, he looked damn excited about everything.   
  
"Dude, your hair," Sam commented. He was frowning and looking Josh over. "Did you lose that much since Christmas?"  
  
"And uh, Sam, the glasses?" Josh retorted. "You go extra blind?"  
  
They frowned and looked over each other. Josh came to the conclusion that Sam looked good. He looked a bit older than the last time they had crossed paths, but damn if it didn't make him prettier because of it. He turned and studied the two on the couch. The chick was poking at her breasts and trying to lift them, a crushed look on her face. The Old Guy just looked like he was about to blow his stack. Wait a minute...that wasn't just an old guy. No wonder he looked familiar. That was...  
  
"Leo!" Josh cried. "Dude, Sam. It's Leo!"  
  
Sam turned and studied Leo in awe.  
  
"You're Leo McGarry?" he asked with wonder. "God, Josh talks about you nonstop. You'd think you were a saint or something!"  
  
"Or something," he muttered in return. Josh grinned widely, wondering just when McGarry had got himself such good digs. He was in the process of digesting this thought when the chick spoke up, sounding very confused. Her words were anything but soft, though. They immediately grabbed the attention of everyone in the room.   
  
"So what the fuck is going on?"  
  
Sam's hand was doing some interesting things to Josh's neck, and it was sending a few chills down his back. He cleared his throat, and pinched Sam in the hip, wanting to hiss, "not in front of Leo!" Josh had his share of kinks and pleasures, but getting it on in the office of an old friend of his fathers' just wasn't on that list. Although, Josh still wasn't sure that this wasn't one big acid trip still. Either way, he had plans to follow through with. Sam was here, next all he needed was to find a room big enough with the right equipment.  
  
"It's temporary," Leo explained with a sigh. He held up one hand.  
  
"Leo!" An urgent female voice called for him from outside the office. Leo closed his eyes tightly.  
  
"Look, just...just don't go anywhere, okay?"  
  
He left the room, closing the door behind him and the four of them welcomed a very long silence. Bald Guy started pacing around the room, and the Chick with the mouth on her was pouting. Sam's hand was doing that very interesting slide down Josh's back, tucking into Josh's pants and…  
  
"So!" Josh coughed out, pulling away from Sam. He had nothing against exhibitionism, but not when McGarry was somewhere near them. He glared at Sam, who lobbed his best pout back (which was really not helping, because that was the damn pout that always weakened Josh's defenses). "Who are you guys?"   
  
Sam rolled his eyes and seemingly gave up on trying his advances. He collapsed into a chair, draping his legs over the side, and keeping them spread...very...wide...and open. Josh felt his mouth drop as his eyes fixated on the crotch of Sam's pants and he tried to remember exactly what he asked because the Bald Guy was beginning to answer him. Josh snapped his head up and steadfastly did not look at Sam.  
  
"Toby," he replied. "And you know, I really don't remember drinking this much to actually teleport somewhere that I...wasn't."  
  
"Tell me about it," Sam murmured.  
  
"I'm Claudia Jean," the chick said. "And I really don't think that I'm in the right place, or you know...time. I mean, my body is all...it's old!" she nearly wailed. Toby patted his body down quickly, and Josh found himself running a few fingers through his hair and mirroring Toby's movements and patting down his body. Everyone frowned. Everyone, but Sam. Sam just sat there, staring at the desk.  
  
"Oh god," Toby murmured with horror.  
  
"Yeah, I uh...I get that," Josh added.  
  
"I have...very little...hair," Toby mumbled very slowly.  
  
"And mine is going fast. And this...this definitely isn't the body that I woke up with this morning," Josh commented, narrowing an eyebrow. He caught Sam looking back at him. He ran his hands lightly over his chest and then narrowed his eyes. After a moment, he lunged forward, leaning over the chair and letting his hands roam down Sam's front.  
  
"Hey! You just pushed me away!" Sam protested, sitting up with a start. "How come you always get to initiate things?"  
  
"Shut up, pretty boy," Josh retorted and scowled. "Dude, this totally isn't fair. You feel exactly the same. Same torso, same muscles. Christ, you still have the same head of hair." His eyes locked on something. "Wait! I am vindicated! Grey hair! There! Is! A! Grey! Hair on your head!" he pumped his fists in the air and pointed to Sam's temple, bouncing slightly on his feet. Sam's eyes widened, and his lower lip slipped into a slight pout.   
  
"Where?" Toby and Claudia both got up and surrounded Sam with a strange level of interest. Josh pointed it out, brushing his thumb against Sam's temple. They both smiled smugly.   
  
"God, not fair. Other than that and a different prescription for glasses, you haven't aged," Josh muttered grumpily, slumping down into the other chair and crossing his arms. "Since when did you make a deal with the devil to keep your good looks. Dude, you even look better now!"  
  
"Clean living?" Sam suggested. "Maybe it's all the good dental care finally paying off. And you know, the way I work out. And the way I eat healthy foods rather than your diet of pizza, pizza, and a side of Chinese."  
  
Josh just scowled.  
  
"Not that you don't still look good," Sam offered.   
  
"You're so just saying that," Josh muttered.  
  
"Josh?" Sam raised an eyebrow and caught Josh's gaze. "Since when do I lie to you?"  
  
Josh swallowed, forgetting there were other people in the room and that Leo was someplace nearby. Sam was giving him the stare. Yes, that was the ‘fuck me now and do it hard’ stare. Josh hated giving up one of these stares, and as usual, Josh was getting hard…fast. He shot to his feet and scrambled around, looking for a place to go.   
  
“Sam,” he commented. It came out strangled, but it got Sam to his feet. “We need to uh…just…um…”  
  
“Yeah,” Sam nodded his agreement.   
  
“Good to meet you guys, hope everything works out, we hope you’ll be fine, bye now!” Josh rambled in a rush, grabbing Sam’s hand and opening a door that led into a golden-lit hall. Claudia and Toby followed him, frowning.  
  
“The guy, the Leo guy said we should stay here!” Claudia protested, waving a hand in the air. “Besides, I think we’re…”  
  
“This is the White House,” Toby interrupted, his eyes dancing. He was moving around, touching everything as though it needed to be touched. “We are actually standing in the White House.”  
  
“Josh, you know what that means!” Sam announced delightedly and pulled away from his grasp.  
  
“Anywhere but the Oval Office?” Josh supplied weakly.   
  
“I mean, I’d only…I’d only seen about this place in magazines before,” Toby was seemingly talking to himself, touching the walls. “But it’s magnificent. It’s amazing. It’s…”  
  
“Splendorous!” Sam interjected enthusiastically, to which Toby nodded vehemently.   
  
“Yes! Exactly.”  
  
Josh started tapping his foot, feeling more impatient that ever. He grabbed Sam’s hand in his own, and raised an eyebrow. He was tired of this shit. After all, acid trip or no, who knew when _whatever_  this was was going to wear off. He yanked on Sam’s hand and began to head down the hallway, stopping in the middle and decisively turning left in search of an empty office.  
  
“We’re going,” he called over his shoulder, Sam tumbling into step beside him.   
  
And then there were two.   
  


* * *

  
  
“So,” C.J. tapped against the couch in the room they had found themselves in.  
  
“So,” the guy named Toby replied. His enthusiasm had died down slightly when those two other freaks – though, they weren’t exactly bad looking freaks necessarily. C.J. was opposed to immaturity, not good looks. She had a right to appraise men just as much as anyone else. “Do you know those two, uh…those…”  
  
“Those two idiots?” C.J. filled in. “No, I don’t. I mean, I saw enough to brand them idiots,” she amended. “I mean, honestly, you could be a little more subtle about wanting to jump someone’s bones!”  
  
Yeah, that’s when she noticed the way Toby had been slowly inching closer to her.  
  
“Oh my god,” she sighed, rolling her eyes and hoping she looked as exasperated as she felt. “Toby? Your name is Toby, I take it. I mean, that’s what you said and I have a sharp memory. So, Toby, Tobes, Tobester, why don’t you inch back where you came from and we can at least talk before you try and nail me, huh?”   
  
To this guy’s credit, at least he backed away a suitable amount of inches. C.J. relaxed and nodded.  
  
“Good,” she said.   
  
“You go to…” he trailed off, raising an eyebrow.  
  
“Berkeley,” C.J. responded swiftly with an assured nod of her head.   
  
“Good school, and the students far exceed the reputation of the school,” he replied.  
  
C.J. grinned. “You just earned yourself some points there. Complementation of my school of choice was quite the wise way to go. I think you just earned yourself some inches there, Toby.”  
  
“Complementation is not a word,” Toby mumbled.  
  
“You aiming to lose them inches?” C.J. raised an eyebrow. “And by the way, is too.”  
  
“Is not.”  
  
“Too!”  
  
“Not!”  
  
They both broke off and glared at each other. C.J. felt heat rising in her throat, but there was something akin to passion simmering inside her. She  _liked_  to argue, and something about Toby was bringing out the best of the worst in her. They sat there as the silence continued and didn’t move.  
  
Not even when that Josh kid stuck his head in the doorway.   
  
“You guys wouldn't happen to know where I could find a potato, would you?” he asked hopefully. Toby glared at him, and C.J. just kept raising her eyebrow until it would rise no higher. The Josh kid seemed to falter under the combined weight of their looks, but didn’t wither in place – that was something C.J. wasn’t used to. He just shrugged nonchalantly, and murmured something that sounded like ‘kay’ before wandering off.  
  
“On careful and further deliberation,” Toby broke the silence a second later, “I am possibly conceding that complementation is a word, and that you were right.”  
  
“First of all, I was right. Second, you get two more inches,” C.J. grinned. “And third, ha, I was right and you were wrong. Live  _that_  down.”  
  
“Apparently, I never will,” Toby murmured under his breath.  
  
“I heard that.”  
  


* * *

  
  
Sam was bored.  
  
It was more than bored. He supposed that about a minute ago, he’d hit ennui. Yup, good old ennui. It was world-weariness that he could feel set into his bones. Ennui, it surely was. Though, was it really? Sam supposed that after all, it was the French that coined the term, and the Americans just picked it up and ran with it, though that wasn’t the first time that our good old U.S. of A. took an idea and sold it as their own.  
  
Boredom, then.  
  
In true Josh Lyman fashion, Josh had found them a messy and cluttered office, closed the door, and proceeded to de-tie Sam, unbuttoning a few of Sam’s shirt buttons, and had then proceeded to kiss Sam good and hard. Of course, all this last about two minutes before Josh pulled away, and started talking.  
  
He always ruined things by talking.  
  
“You know what we really need right now…”  
  
And that was how Sam wound up alone and in a state of ennui. At least, he was quite bored until he heard the click-clack of high heels coming down the hallway and decided that he didn’t have to be quite so bored, and who said that his life revolved around Joshua Lyman?  
  
Okay, a few people said that. No one important.  
  
Except…yeah, maybe anyone who’d seen them together said that.  
  
Sam revoked that saying from the mental record and made his way to the doorway, leaning languorously in the frame and watching a blonde make her way to a desk in the middle of the room, swearing away as she did. She didn’t see him, or she was ignoring him, or something.  
  
“Hey,” he started conversationally.  
  
She looked up briefly and smiled tersely.  
  
“Sam,” she tossed back. “You wouldn’t know where I put my wallet? I can’t find it.”  
  
“Well, I haven’t seen your wallet,” Sam pushed himself off the door. “But if you want, I can cover you, make sure you’re good. I mean, we could also get some drinks if you want.” He made his way to her side and leaned in beside her, wrapping one hand around her body, brushing against her waist as he opened the drawer to her desk. He breathed in her perfume as he stepped forward to look inside the drawer. He pulled away and shrugged apologetically, not having found any wallet to speak of.   
  
“Um…Sam,” the woman started.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“You wouldn’t be taking any special kind of drugs, would you?”  
  
Sam snorted and rolled his eyes. “Do I look like Josh to you?”  
  
“Josh…does drugs?” She raised her eyebrows and her eyes went wide.  _Really_  wide. “Oh god…that would explain so much…”  
  
“No, he just…” Sam shrugged. “He wanted to get high. He wanted to ruin tonight,” Sam muttered grumpily, crossing his arms. “He always does this. Everything is going perfectly, he’s got perfect plans, and then he ruins it all by becoming the Cheech to someone’s Chong.” Sam rolled his eyes. “Typical.”  
  
“…Sam?”  
  
“Yeah…uh, I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” Sam offered apologetically.   
  
“Donna, it’s okay.”  
  
That Leo guy was back, and he was talking to the woman. Her name was Donna then. Good name. Derived from Europe with connotations towards ‘woman’ or ‘of a womanly nature’. Oh…they were talking. Something about a hypnotist and college and…what was he saying about chaos breaking loose.  
  
And now this Donna looked horrified.  
  
“Hey Sam, why don’t you go back to my office?” Leo suggested good-naturedly. “C.J. and Toby are waiting in there, and I think there may be a bloodbath soon. I was hoping for some witnesses.”  
  
“Yeah,” Sam nodded, gesturing to the office behind him. “I was just gonna wait here for Josh though, we’ll head by together.”  
  
“Careful,” Donna warned, seemingly having found her purse. “Josh’s office tends to be a deathtrap. After the thing with the chair, and the ceiling, and the binders falling on his head, and the drawers being unhinged…you know, I think the West Wing is just anti-Josh.”  
  
Sam blinked blankly.   
  
Maybe there were all on drugs.  
  


* * *

  
  
It only took him, like, forever to find the stuff he needed. What the hell  _was_  this injustice? Josh finally made his way back to the office with the help of a few helpful cleaning people and a few apt pantomimes that seemed to convey where he had come from. When he got into the office, he found Sam leaning against the desk, tie in hand, one eyebrow raised.  
  
“Where were we?” Josh murmured, closing the door behind him.  
  


* * *

  
  
Toby sat there, glancing at his watch. It’d been five minutes since Miss Claudia Jean Cregg, as he’d been so neatly informed, had threatened to castrate him, and four minutes since she’d apologized and they’d begun to debate PBS. Three minutes since there was a threat upon his house and kin, and two minutes since they sat in silence.  
  
And now this Leo guy was pacing around.  
  
“I told him ten minutes ago to come here,” he seethed, taking his anger out on a newspaper. “This is getting to be ridiculous.” He was glancing at his watch too, and a few minutes ago, he’d taken a phone call. Relief had actually  _flooded_  his face. Then he’d muttered something about cursing hypnotists to hell before hanging up and plastering a giant smile on his face.  
  
“S’okay,” a lazy voice came from the doorway and the Josh idiot sauntered in, looking smug. “We’re here.”  
  
And then the young one…the kid, Sam trailed him. Clothes disheveled. Hair mussed. Satisfied smile on his face. Dazed. Gazing at Josh adoringly.  
  
“Oy gevald ,” murmured a horrified Toby. “I have found my way to hell.”   
  
“Please tell me I’m not the only one seeing this,” C.J. piped up.  
  
“We’re all seeing it,” Toby voiced, and his voice sounded thick. “I’d like to pry my eyes from their sockets to avoid it, but…but I can’t. It’s like a car wreck, it’s like…”  
  
And they still weren’t breaking apart. It was as though the horrified sentiments were only fueling them to ignore everyone else in the room and indulge in each other with something that looked like silent communication. There was a frustrated sigh from Leo, and finally, he pressed a button on the phone.  
  
“For god’s sake, get them  _out_  of this!” Leo snapped at the phone.  
  
“Yeah, okay,” a voice drifted out. It sounded thin and distant. “Hey guys, it’s me, Frank. Listen, you’re all going to just sit there, okay? Focus on nothing but a small spot in front of you and just look at that. Feel your mind drift away, let yourself go…”  
  
Toby closed his eyes and just swayed slightly.  
  
“Focus on breathing, listen to the sounds of the room, but don’t put thoughts into your head. I’m going to count to five, I’m going to say the words, and I’m going to snap my fingers. One, two…”  
  
Toby felt himself drift away.  
  
“…three, four, five.”  
  
And there was relaxation, and a beautiful sense of serenity washing over him.  
  
“Mature. Adult.”  
  
Someone snapped their fingers.  
  
And then all hell broke loose in his brain.  
  


* * *

  
  
Josh opened his eyes with a snap, realized just whose waist his arm was slung around and promptly began to freak out. His eyes widened and he jumped away from Sam, tucking his shirt in, running a hand through his hair to straighten it, and in the distance of his freak-out heard Leo talking to some guy and congratulating him about a baby.  
  
“Oh god,” Josh keened miserably. “Oh god, my office. Oh…god.”  
  
He and Sam caught each other’s glance and shared a very miserable, very pale look. Sam seemed to falter, and gripped the chair. His knees just gave out completely then and he sat down, cradling his hands in his lap and staring at them.  
  
“So, it seems my staff had some interesting college years,” Leo was speaking, sounding very sharp and very bitter. And Josh felt every word sting him. “I’ll tell you this. I am never in my life listening to Margaret again.”  
  
“I heard that!” Margaret’s voice came from outside the office.   
  
“Sam, Josh?” C.J. began to speak. “Was there anything you two might like to share?”   
  
“I think I want to die,” Sam piped up weakly, not looking up. “In all actuality, I really think this feeling is me wanting to be whisked off the face of the earth and killed so I don’t have to feel so mortified.”  
  
“Tough luck, you have speeches to write,” Leo retorted immediately.   
  
“Is it in any way possible that someone could just hit me on the back of the head? I mean, really, really hard so that I could please forget everything that happened tonight,” Sam pleaded, gesturing to his head, looking up.  
  
“If only I were allowed,” Toby muttered to himself.   
  
“Guys, I don’t think any of us are willing to first of all, discuss, and second of all, reminisce over what happened. So let’s just agree to completely forget, okay?” Thank god for C.J., Josh thought. Thank god twice for her common sense, and her logic. Josh supposed that forgetting it all would be good. Despite the many things he and Sam would have to talk about and the inevitable facing-down of his office sooner than he’d…  
  
“Forgetting,” Toby said quickly.  
  
“Already forgotten,” Sam nodded quickly at the same time.  
  
“But a speck in the back of my head,” Josh concurred.   
  
“And I will never speak of this again,” C.J. finished. She then turned her attention to Leo. “Who else knows?”  
  
“Margaret and I. Donna,” he said hesitantly. “The…President.”  
  
“Oh god,” Sam and Josh voiced in horrified tandem.   
  
“He just knows you were under hypnotism,” Leo said, quickly saving Josh from thoughts of taking a nice tumble off a roof somewhere. “In fact, he was willing to go under himself. Actually…god knows he probably was itching to do it.”  
  
“Leo, please…” C.J. started.  
  
“Relax, it’ll never happen. Not while I’m working here,” Leo assured her. He looked at his watch and groaned. “Oh, for…look, go home. Enjoy the few hours of sleep you get before we’re back here at seven.”  
  
“Why seven?” Josh frowned.  
  
“Labor’s giving us a headache, we’re going to need everyone here.”  
  
“It’s Sunday!” C.J. protested.  
  
“And yet, the country continues to exist,” Leo replied evenly. “Funny that. Go home. Sleep this off.”  
  
With those words in mind, the meeting dispersed. Josh was all too eager to get out of the office. He made his way back to his office and stood about four feet away from the door, glancing at it uneasily. He felt rather than heard Sam’s presence beside him, and looked to the side.  
  
“So…”  
  
“Yeah,” Josh replied.  
  
“Maybe we should talk?”  
  
“You know what? I think…I think…”  
  
“Potato bongs, Josh. You actually had me get high in the West Wing. I  _am_  high, and I’m in the West Wing.”  
  
“Yeah,” Josh replied.  
  
“I’m more amazed at where you got the marijuana from.”  
  
“You know, C.J. really was dead-on about those guys in the photo-lab.”  
  
“They’re quite the cannibists.”   
  
“That’s not a word.”  
  
“Is too.”  
  
“Sam, you’re the speechwriter. It is not a word.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
There was silence.  
  
“Think we ought to tell the others we weren’t having sex in your office?”  
  
“I think maybe it’s worse if they found out we were smoking up.”  
  
“So I have to endure ridicule…”  
  
“Yes, Sam.”  
  
“…and jokes at my expense. Yet, again, I might add.”   
  
“Deal.”  
  
“No, I’m good.”  
  
“Good.”  
  
“I gotta say though, Josh, you are industrious.”  
  
“My college years taught me well,” Josh smirked and opened the window to his office, the first step in getting that damned smell out of the office. He handed Sam his tie and afforded a quick kiss on Sam’s cheek. “It is too bad we never got that full week to ourselves back in college.”  
  
“You got that great job,” Sam shrugged.  
  
“Well…whatever. You still kiss great.”  
  
“Yeah. You’re still good with that tongue thing.”  
  
“So, sex?”  
  
“Yeah, not the weed,” Sam agreed reluctantly. “You so owe me.”  
  
Josh shrugged, sitting on his desk and letting the cool breeze pass over him. “I don’t know. We could always make up for lost time. The spring break that never was. Or we could just have dinner when we’re both back to normal.”  
  
“Sounds good.”  
  
“Good.”  
  
“And Josh? Can you please, for the love of god, just make sure I don’t have to see any potatoes from now until the end of the world?”  
  
“That can be arranged.”


End file.
